The Test of Magic part 1
by Writer25
Summary: Joe meets Joleena and it seems like she's normal, but she's next in line for the throne of a powerful, magic kingdom but must first prove her worthiness. Joe must also prove his before he can become a warp wiz and the gods are judges. Full summary inside
1. Summary Author's Note

**Joe meets a girl named Joleena who he thinks is an average pretty, rich girl but in reality she's next in line to inherit the throne of one of the most powerful magic kingdoms. First though she must win the approval of several gods, goddess, and others to determine whether or not she is worthy of her powers and one of the judges might be Sydney! Her friends San-Li and Fina are there to help Joleena and Joe also lends a hand but there may be an assassin targeting Joleena and the future warp wizard Joe. Can their friends save them?**

**A/N- Look at my new profile updated with new story information. I am also doing fanart/oneshot requests for posting on Deviantart. Just message/ review me**


	2. Chapter 1

It was lunchtime in a school in Brooklyn. Fred was chewing on the cafeteria's rubbery pizza, Sam was reading an article in Science weekly, and Joe was working a particularly challenging card trick.

"Okay Fred, now pick a card" he said fanning out the deck towards him.

"Uh, not again," Fred complained with his mouth full of pizza, "Okay I picked one now what?"

"Now put it back into the deck and watch me work my magic." Joe smiled.

"Yah, 'cause your magic always works." Sam snickered without even looking up from his magazine.

Joe made a face at Sam while Fred put back his card and Joe reshuffled the deck.

"Now with a few magic words I'll…" Suddenly Joe lost control of the cards as a group of girls passed by their table. Cards flew everywhere as all of the girls laughed a 'popular-mean-girl' sort of way. All except one that is. Instead of laughing meanly she actually laughed in a nice sort of way.

"Um, I think you dropped something." She said picking up one of Joe's cards.

Joe noticed how graceful and beautiful she was. (Which was what actually made Joe mess-up).

"Uh, t-t-thanks" he stammered.

As the girls walked away one of them muttered, "What a loser."

"What was that all about?" Fred asked as soon as the girls left.

"I don't know." Joe said absentmindedly, his eyes following the girl who hadn't laughed in a mean way. Unfortunately Fred noticed.

"Please don't tell me you're staring at Joleena." Fred moaned.

"Is that her name?" Joe asked dreamily. Fred and Sam looked at Joe, then at each other, and burst out laughing.

"Don't tell me your actually going to try to ask her out. She's totally out of you league." Fred laughed.

"Ya, and besides the chances of her saying yes are like," Sam did some quick calculations in his head, " 1 in 243828.53"

"And she's a total snob." Fred said rolling his eyes. That last comment did it. Angrily Joe stood up and walked over to where Joleena was sitting.

"Joleena." He said standing behind her. She turned around and stood up.

"Yes" she said. Joe hadn't noticed how pretty she looked up close. Her skin was a brown color with light freckles. Her long, wavy hair was sort of a dark cinnamon and her eyes were like a dark hazel. Joe suddenly lost his nerve.

"Hi." He said weakly

"Hi." Joleena said sympathetically as everyone started to laugh at him.

"Like who was _that_?" One of the popular girls said with disgust in her voice.

"I don't know but he was kinda cute." Joleena said with a small smile.


	3. Chapter 2

After lunch Joe had French class, which he hated. Until that is, he saw who else was in his class. He was especially relieved to see that the other popular girls left Joleena at the door and went to their own classes. When Joleena took a seat by the window Joe sat next to her.

"Umm, hey." Joe said shyly.

"Hi." Joleena said not looking up from her mirror.

But then she glanced up at him and she smiled.

"Oh hi!" she said more brightly. "Did you ever finish your magic trick?"

"Um, sure. Wanna see it?" He asked hopefully. Girls usually thought his magic tricks were stupid.

"Uh huh." she nodded.

He shuffled the cards and asked her to pick one. As she did her fingers brushed against his and he felt a slight shock.

"Okay, now what?" she asked.

"Put it back and watch." Joe said using his best mysterious magician's voice.

He even raised his eyebrow which made her giggle. He rubbed the deck between his hands making it disappear. He held his arms up to show her he didn't have them anymore but that didn't seem to satisfy her.

"How do I know you didn't hide them in your sleeves?" she asked.

"You can check if you want." Joe said in a low voice.

She giggled and he realized their faces had gotten really close. Then she did something he hadn't expected. She reached out and caressed his arms.

"Nope, nothing there." she giggled.

"Joseph! Joleena!" an all too familiar high pitched called out. "Que faites-vous faire deux?"

"Um, montrant juste Joe le mot d'armes." Joleena said in perfect French.

Joleena's answer wasn't that good but since no one could hardly ever answer Mrs. Audubon in French, she got them both off the hook. They both paid attention for a while but hey, this was French class. Soon they were passing notes and playing tick-tack-toe. They almost got in trouble again because he kept making her laugh.

Joleena POV

I had no idea talking to a regular boy could be so much fun. He was cute, so much fun to be around, and the effect I had on him was hilarious. But he was also a dangerous distraction. Even though I kinda wanted to get to know him, I knew I had to focus on my red alert thing and the prophecy that's supposed to take place. Just then the bell rang signifying the end of school (finally!) and I gathered up my stuff to leave.

"So, um, can I walk you home?" He asked nervously.

"Um..." I hesitated. I know I should jut say no. Even on my way to school I could feel something dark following me. I couldn't put some mortal boy at risk.

"Sure." I said anyway.

As we walked we started talking about things we had in common like music and T.V. Before I knew it we were at my door.

"By the way, you never showed me card." I said sweetly.

Joe smiled then reached within the folds of her hair and pulled out a card.

"Is this your card?" he asked proudly.

"Nope." She said with a sly smile. Then she reached into the collar of his shirt and pulled out her card…with her number written on it. "But this is."

She waved him goodbye and as she went inside she smiled at how he was practically skipping down the street. But her smile disappeared as soon as she got in the door. Down her sleeve slid a charm that she had snuck in there when she first sensed the evil presence. It looked like a miniature dream catcher with stars woven into it. Joleena held her hand out over it and it levitated and her eyes turned purple. The dream catcher then grew in size and a staff appeared on the end. (This happened in a matter of seconds)

Joleena took a quick step to the side as a black snake made of dark magic flew into the spot Joleena had just been in. Hissing in anger, it turned in midair and flew at her again, fangs wide.

In one swift motion, Joleena swung at the dark snake and hit it directly with the star in the middle of the catcher. The snake hissed and writhed in pain as magic sparks flew everywhere. Finally it vanished in a puff of smoke. Joleena's eyes went back to normal and she pulled out her cell phone.

"Yes?" a voice answered on the second ring.

"You were right," Joleena said grudgingly. "I do need you here."

"Another trap?" the voice asked.

"Nope." Joleena said with a sigh. "This one was out to kill."


	4. Chapter 3

Next Day:

Fred was walking over to Sam's grandfather's apartment after school (Joe was at a doctor's appointment). Sam was going to help him study for the big history test tomorrow. Sam had to stay over his grandpa's house because Sam's mom was running errands in Manhattan and wouldn't be back until tomorrow.

In the building, Fred saw an old Japanese man with a cane directing a kid carrying large boxes in. The kid wore a big oversized, black jacket and had an oversized had on that kept slipping over their eyes, which made it hard to tell whether or not they were a boy or girl.

"Ai yaaa!" the kid suddenly yelled as the boxes started to slip.

Fred rushed over and grabbed two of the boxes just in time.

"Thanks." The kid said in English, their voice a little hoarse.

"No problem" Fred said proudly. He was always happy to show off his skills. "So, are you new around here?"

"Yes, from Japan" the kid answered hoarsely. Just then some mover guys rushed in from their lunch break. The grandfather started yelling at them and waving his cane. Fred looked at the kid questionably.

"Grandfather was very impatient for movers" the kid explained.

They both laughed when the grandfather actually hit one of the workers in the head. The kid's laughter turned to coughing as s/he got a tissue out of his/her pocket.

"Sorry, slight cold." The kid explained. "So what's your name anyway?"

"Fred. And yours?"

"Nikendo, Sán-li" S/he said with one of those Japanese bows.

"So what's with the jacket?" Fred asked.

"Step-Mom got paranoid about 'bad American airs'." S/he said.

Just then Sam came out of his grandpa's apartment looking for Fred.

"Hey, there goes my friend Sam. Wanna hang out with us?" He asked.

"Um, okay. But I have to ask first." After talking to his/her grandfather for a few seconds in Japanese, s/he came back.

"Sure!" The kid said happily. Just then Sam had finally caught up to them.

"Fred! I've been looking all over for you! Where have you been?" He complained.

"My bad Sam, but hey, meet Nick."

"Actually a…" 'Nick' started to say.

"Hey you guys want to play some hoops?" Fred interrupted.

"I…." the kid started again.

"But we need to study for the test." Sam said, not hearing 'Nick'.

"Aw, we can do that later. I brought my basketball."

They argued like that for a little while and 'Nick' dozed off a little until Fred finally asked, "Don't you want to play basketball Nick?"

"Sure, whatever." the kid answered. _Anything to get them to shut-up. _

On the Court:

"And this I call the triple olly with a side twist." Fred said, doing a complicated move than shooting the ball. It hit the rim then went in.

"Wow. Impressive." Sam said in a sarcastically bored voice.

This made 'Nick' laugh a little, which irritated Fred.

"Oh, so you think _you _can do better?" He challenged.

"I just don't see how basketball will help you when you fail the history test tomorrow."

_Ugh, not again._ 'Nick' thought as they started another one of their long arguments again. But suddenly 'Nick' got an idea. S/he stole the ball from Fred, ran up to the basket, and sank the ball in.

"Whoa!" Fred and Sam both said in unison.

"Wanna play a little one on one?" 'Nick' asked.

Soon 'Nick' and Fred were playing a really heated game, 10 to 9 with 'Nick' winning. After about 20 more minutes of hard play, Fred finally had to admit defeat.

"You," he panted heavily, "Are the toughest guy I have ever played."

"Thanks." 'Nick' panted even harder. Sweat poured off what little face they could see. For the whole game, 'Nick' had played with the oversized hat and jacket on.

"You should really take that off." Fred said concerned.

"Yah," Sam added, "You can get some serious heat- stroke wearing that, Nick."

"Yah, I should." 'Nick' said and started to take it and the hat off.

When 'Nick' did, Sam and Fred gasped. 'Nick' was definitely _not_ a guy. Under the jacket, Sam and Fred could definitely tell that she wore a bra, (and not the training bra either) and under the cap she had a lot of ink black hair that she had messily tied in a pony tail.

"By the way," She said enjoying the look of total shock on their faces, "My name is Sán-li. _Nikendo _is my _last_ name."

The next day _everybody _was talking about the hot new girl who beat Fred in basketball. Fred walked in class with Sam still harping about the test they had that day when he saw Sán-li sitting on Joleena's desk, both of talking quietly.

"Well if it isn't the cross-dresser?" Fred said standing in front of her.

Sán-li turned around and smirked at Fred while Sam rolled his eyes and went to sit in his seat. Fred noticed that she wasn't cross dressing so much anymore. She was wearing a tight black T-shirt with a blue wicked smiley face on it, dark blue jeans, and black leather boots. Her hair was also in her usual ponytail.

"Well, well if it isn't blondey. Back for round two of me kicking your butt in basketball?" She smirked.

A bunch of kids were semi gathered around them to hear them argue/flirt. Fred, the jock all the girls wanted but he was never interested in and the new hot girl all the guys wanted but she wasn't interested in.

"I totally let you win." Fred said starting to get annoyed. He hated it when anyone beat him in a sport, let alone a girl.

"Right." Joleena scoffed. "That's _totally_ what happened."

Everyone laughed; especially the popular girls. They had all been rejected at one point by Fred.

"Tell you what though," Sán-li stood up and got really close to Fred. "I might let you have a rematch."

"When and where?" Fred asked.

"P.E." She said, "Unless you don't have the balls," she added in a low whisper.

"Oooooooo!" The whole class was in an uproar. Fred had gotten majorly dissed. Again.

"Oh ya? Well, your-your..." Fred couldn't come up with anything. It wasn't just his usual slowness either. He had never been so close to anyone so...hot!

Just then the bell rang and the teacher came inside and all the students rushed into their seats. Sán-li winked at Fred and went to sit down by Joleena. Fred blinked and slid in by Sam who took one look at Fred's dumbfounded (love struck) face and rolled his eyes. So what if Sán-li was good-looking, funny, and good at sports? She wasn't as smart as Sam that was for sure.

"Sán-li, you can skip today's test if you like since your new here." The teacher said.

"What's it on?" she asked in bored tone.

"The civilization of Rome." The teacher answered. "We got quite in depth with it."

"You mean like how it was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC." Sán-li said doodling. "Or about its shift from a monarchy, to an oligarchic republic, to an empire?"

Everyone was speechless; especially Sam. He thought he was the only one who knew about civilizations like Rome. He looked over at Fred who seemed to notice that she said something smart, but he wasn't really interested.

"Okay then, lets begin." the teacher said and started to hand out tests.

Just then Joe came in. The teacher made a remark and Joe mumbled something about sleeping in.

"Where were you?" Fred asked when he sat down.

Joe waited until the teacher passed them and then he rolled up his sleeve. Fred and Sam gasped. Joe's arm had an angry looking burn on it with a slight green tint on the edges.

"W-W-what happened?" Sam asked in a horrified whisper. They had gotten in trouble time warping before, but they never had any _physical_ injuries.

Joe rerolled his sleeves up and his eyes had took on a deep, mysterious look instead of horrified like Fred and Sam's

"The Book did this to me." Joe said in a low whisper.

PE was their last class and Fred as slightly more excited than usual. Now Fred could finally prove who was the best at sports. He put on his PE clothes and headed out onto the blacktop. Joe and Sam were already out there, but they were sitting with Joleena and Sán-Li.

"Are you sure you're alright Joe?" Joleena said gently with concern in her voice.

"Yeah, its nothing, really." Joe said obviously enjoying her attention.

Joleena and Sán-Li quickly exchanged a look and Fred saw Sán-Li press a button on her cell phone. He also saw Sam staring at her intently with a look of confusion, frustration, and something else he couldn't quite place. She must have noticed him staring too.

"What the hell you staring at?" she said angrily.

"Someone who's about to get their butt kicked in basketball." Fred said loud enough for everyone to hear.

Sán-Li turned around and smirked at him. Fred hated that he noticed how snug her blue T-shirt was and how small her black shorts were. She glanced at Joleena who just shrugged and focused her attention on Joe again.

"Alright then," Sán-Li said. "Lets go."

Everyone cleared the basketball court for them. The game was just as heated as the first one they played, if not more so. Fred lost count of both how many baskets they made and how many times they brushed up against each other. Fred had more chances than he wanted to experience first hand how much more _developed _she was than other girls. But even with the various distractions it was a really close game.

Just then Sán-Li leaped up and was about dunk on Fred while he tried to jump up and block it. At first it looked like Sán-Li was going to make it, but in mid-jump, when she and Fred were face-to-face, Sán-Li glanced behind Fred's head and a look of terror spread across her face. Then, it seemed like she moved, and the next thing Fred knew, they collided and Sán-Li landed on top of him.

Just then the whistle blew signifying the end of P.E.

"You okay?" Sán-Li whispered.

"From what? You knocking me down? Of course." He said confused.

She seemed surprise for a minute the quickly stood up.

"So what's the score?" she asked Joleena.

"What? Oh, umm..." Joleena blushed because it was obvious that her and Joe had been too busy talking to notice.

"It was a tie." Sam said quietly. "If she had made that last basket, Sán-Li would have won."

Fred was surprised. Usually Sam didn't keep score unless Fred forced him to. The teacher impatiently blew the whistle again and everyone slowly filed inside.

"I'd go one-on-one with her _anytime_!" Fred heard one guy say.

Then he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around expecting the teacher but it was Sán-Li and they were completely alone.

"Nice game." she said.

"I let you win." Fred mumbled moving quickly to get away from her.

"You scared of me or something?" Sán-Li asked slightly nervous walking with him into the school.

"W-w-what? N-no way!" he nearly yelled.

But the way he stammered and felt his face get hot, he knew she wasn't convinced. He especially knew it when Sán-Li smirked at him.

"Alright then you make the first move." she said stopping in front of him.

"W-what?" Fred stuttered.

"You heard me." Sán-Li breathed, her mouth close to his.

A few seconds passed by but it felt like hours to Fred because neither of them moved. Then Sán-Li turned to walk away.

"Hey, if your too scared I completely understand." she smirked.

It was then that Fred snapped. Her whole "I'm so much better than you" attitude paired with that sway of her hips just as she turned away made her so much like-

Suddenly Fred grabbed her arm and forced around to face him. Then their lips crashed together and molded. She was so surprised that her body seemed ready to attack him. In a way she did. After she got over the initial shock she grabbed the front of Fred's shirt and held him to her.

That was when Fred realized what he was doing; kissing Sán-Li. His first kiss. In a panic he broke it and ran to the boy's locker room. But just went inside, he looked over his shoulder one more time to look at Sán-Li. Her head was still slightly upturned and her eyes...teary and hurt. Fred felt horrible…but then ducked into the locker room.


	5. Chapter 4

Joe knew he failed the test but he didn't really care. For some reason The Book as acting strange. Well, stranger than usual. He remembered getting ready for school when the box The Book was in started glowing strangely. It wasn't its usual green 'about-to-randomly-warp' glow either. It was more of a dark, sinister kind of glow. Joe looked closer and saw this circle of strange writing on it which suddenly disappeared. Then The Book actually started to bang around and shoot blasts of light. I lifted up the lid land reached into it to get The Book when-

"Ah!" He yelled and held his arm to his chest.

He was knocked back by a dark green flame and writhed on the floor in pain.

"Joe?" Anna called (his mom was at work already). "Are you okay?"

"Fine!" He yelled back. "Just...go to school without me."

He rushed into the bathroom and ran his arm under the cold water. At first green electric sparks flew across his arm but soon that stopped.

Slowly Joe trudged up the stairs. Was it the strange writing that made The Book act like that and actually…hurt him? Maybe he should ask his uncle. The _not _crazy one. At least not crazy in the try to conquer the world sense.

Joe made a slight hissing sound between his teeth and clutched his arm. The burn had been hurting all day and Joe tried to ignore it. When he went to the bathroom to run more water on it at lunch, the burn had gotten worse. Now the strange dark, green writing appeared on his burn.

When Joe got to his room, his feet didn't want to respond anymore and it seemed like he was getting shorter? No wait, he was just slowly sinking down on his knees. The room even started to fade and he felt weaker by the second.

_So this is what its like to die by a curse._ Was Joe's last coherent thought.

As Joe slowly sank into unconsciousness he thought he saw Anna's white, blue eyed cat. But didn't Anna's cat have green eyes? But Joe was past caring; he must have past out again because he had a very strange dream. Anna's cat crawled up to him and changed in into a girl in a white hooded cloak. The girl had light blonde hair, intense gray-blue eyes, and a gentle smile. The girl took his burning arm in her hands, dreams weren't supposed to hurt, and blew on it softly. Or maybe she kissed it. Joe was too out of it. Suddenly Joe jerked awake. Anna's cat was sitting in his lap, staring up at him with intense blue eyes. It licked his nose and then bounded over to the open window. He rolled up his sleeve and checked out his burn. It had vanished! Joe wasn't a medical genius, or even as smart as Sam, but he did know that burns as bad as the one's he had didn't just go away. He looked at the cat again. It looked back at him and it seemed like it was waving its tail like it wanted Joe to follow it. Then Joe heard the front door open and close.

"Joe, you home?" Anna called from downstairs.

"Yeah." Joe called back. "You know, your cat is acting really weird."

"Weird how?" Anna asked coming into his room...with her cat. Her green-eyed cat.

"B-But..." Joe looked toward where the blue eyed cat had been two seconds before.

The cat was gone.


	6. Chapter 5

Fred was riding on his new skateboard heading towards Ray's to meet the others. And by the others he meant Sam, Joe, Joleena, and (gulp) Sán-Li. No matter what Fred did he couldn't get her out of his mind. He couldn't stand her! She was such a know-it-all, show off! Nothing Fred did impressed her. And ever since that...incident two days ago, Fred didn't even want to think about it.

Suddenly Fred heard shouts coming from down the street. He stopped and saw that a driver had passed out and their car was careening out of control. But that wasn't the only reason why people were screaming. A young girl, probably a tourist, was taking pictures with her camera and was completely unaware of the car that was going to kill her. Fred, the hero wanna be he was, sped up on his skateboard toward her. When he got to her everything seemed to slow down. Just as he reached her she turned around. Her light, golden blonde hair spun around her face as she turned, her beautiful intense gray-blue eyes were wide with fear and surprise, and her mouth was slightly opened in shock.

Fred was also aware of the car that was about to hit them both. It seemed like half a second that Fred knocked them both out of the way that the car hit the side of the building.

"Are you okay?" Fred asked the girl.

The girl looked at him and seemed to be trying to remember something. Suddenly a look of realization came across her face.

"Fred?" she asked.

Fred looked closer at the girl. Then he remembered.

"Fina?"

"Fina? What are you doing here?" Fred asked excitedly.

"Moved here." Fina shrugged.

Fred noticed that he was still on top of Fina so he sat and and helped her sit up.

"Wonder what got in to that guy?" Fred asked starting to turn around.

But Fina suddenly grabbed his shoulders and pulled him into a hug, distracting his attention from the victim.

"Thank you so much for saving me!" she squealed.

Just then a newspaper photographer took their picture. Fred wanted to stay to watch but a crowd had started to gather and he remembered that Fina was somewhat afraid of crowds.

"Come on," Fred turned to her. "Let's get out of here."

Blushing slightly, Fina grabbed his hand and he helped her onto his skateboard.

Since they were 5, they went to the same summer camp in Alabama and were they best of friends. They didn't start out that way though. Fina had been they somewhat ugly, chubby girl with greasy, stringy hair. While the other girls like dolls and nail polish, Fina was interested in following bugs and basketball. One day, when they were 7, they guys were playing basketball and the girls were playing jump rope. Fina tried to jump with the girls but she kept tripping on the rope and the girls kept sneering and laughing when she did. Fina then tried to play with the guys they started to call her names. Fred thought about it and then went over to play with her. One thing led to another soon they were inseparable.

Fred rounded the next corner a little too fast and Fina clutched to him tightly.

"Hey! You're not fat anymore!" he blurted out without thinking.

"Um, yeah." Fina mumbled embarrassed. "I lost weight in California."

Fred then noticed something else. Instead of stringy and greasy, Fina's hair was now soft and feathery though her bangs still covered her eyes. Fred sorta liked how it felt when her hair whipped around his neck.

When they came to Ray's Fred skidded to a stop, accidentally making Fina fall off the back.

"Oops." Fred said laughing a little. "Sorry."

He helped her stand up and still holding her hand, although he didn't notice, and walked inside with her.

Joe POV

I was wondering what was taking Fred so long when he walked in...with a girlfriend. I mean, thats who she had to be right? Fred was holding hands with her and laughing with her. She had golden blonde hair, done in pigtails on both sides of her head and bangs that covered her eyes, a yellow hoodie with a sun on it, and light blue jeans with a floral pattern on the legs.

I looked over at Joleena who had suddenly stiffened at next to me. She was staring at Fina with a shocked look on her face. And who could blame her? FRED had a GIRLFRIEND! Then I looked at Sán-Li and her reaction surprised me. She wasn't just surprised; she was hurt.

"Hey guys," Fred said sliding in the booth next to Sam. "This is my friend Fina."

"Since when did you get a girlfriend?" Sam asked staring at Sán-Li who was suddenly busy on her cell.

"Oh! We're just friends." Fina said quickly.

"Yeah, why would I have a girlfriend?" Fred said sitting down in front of Sán-Li.

Suddenly Fred yelped and jumped up in his seat. He and Sán-Li exchanged a quick, angry look then looked away from each other.

"So how'd you two meet?" Joleena asked.

Fina was about to speak but Fred interrupted her.

"I totally saved her life." Fred said proudly.

"You?" Sam said finally breaking his gaze on Sán-Li. "You actually saved someone's life? Yeah, right!"

"I totally did!" Fred said getting angry. "Tell him Fina!"

"Um, yeah, he did." Fina said glancing at Joleena often.

I looked over and saw that her eyebrow was slightly raised.

"What happened?" she asked.

"It was the weirdest thing," Fred said. "This guys just passed out while driving and almost hit her on the sidewalk."

"Did he look drunk or high or anything?" Sán-Li asked but not yet talking to Fred.

"Uh, uh" Fred said shaking his head. "But I didn't get to see him."

Just then Joleena and Sán-Li exchanged a look. Then Joleena gave me a sad look, like she was trying to tell me something.

"Dude! Will you stop freaking staring at me?" Sán-Li yelled at Sam…again.

Sam blushed and scooted out of the booth and left. Sán-Li looked surprised and followed

After we got our food I walked Joleena home again. This time I was going to finally pop the question. Not the marriage one of course, just the 'will you be my girlfriend?' one.

"So, um," I started nervously when we got to her door. "Maybe we can see a movie this Friday."

"Joe," Joleena sighed turning towards me. "I don't 'us' would be a good idea."

"Oh," I said hurt. "Okay, we can still be friends."

"No, Joe." she said a tear running down her cheek. "We can't."

"But why?" I asked confused.

"I-I-I can't tell you!" she shouted.

"But I really care about you and..." I explained laying a hand on her face brushing away the tear.

But then Joleena rushed in her door and closed it in my face. Wow. I had never felt so hurt in my life. But I was also really confused. What was so bad that she couldn't even be friends with me? What was so bad that she couldn't tell me? I turned and started to walk down her steps. That's when I heard her scream.

Sam POV

What was I thinking! That by staring at Sán-Li I could figure out why I couldn't get her out of my head? Why she confused me so much? She was beautiful, yet she rejected every guy that tried to hit on her. She intimidated elementary kids with her high school friends but then turns around and defends them from their own bullies. And the one thing that got me the most; she was a genius. Sán-Li's grades were better than mine! Everyday we competed to get all the answers right in class...and she won! I hated that the most abut her. Then why did my heart stutter every time she was near me?

"Hey!" She called behind me. "I said wait up!"

"What?" I meant to say harshly but of course my voice squeaked like it did when I was upset.

I turned around and saw her doubled over panting. Then she surprised me by smiling when she stood up.

"Does your voice always do that?" she asked with a slight laugh.

"Does what?" I asked.

"Get all high like that when your angry." she asked still smiling.

"Ye-Yeah," I said getting angry again. "What of it?"

"Dunno..." She said starting to walk again. Then she turned back to me. "Its kinda cute."

I felt my face turn hot and we started walking together.

"You know, that staring thing is kinda creepy." Sán-Li said as we walked. "Wanna explain?"

"Umm, you confuse me." I said embarrassed.

Sán-Li stopped walking. "How?"

"Your so mean, yet your so...nice." I said blushing. "Your bad in class but you still manage to make better grades than me."

Sán-Li looked at me for a long time before speaking with a surprised look on her face.

"You're a weird little nerd, you know that?" she said.

Then she walked up to a door and turned back to me.

"Well, you coming or what?" She asked.

I looked up and saw that we were in front of the Olympia Diner. I realized that we hadn't eaten at Ray's and followed her inside.

While eating we realized that we had more in common than we thought. We both loved Kryptonite by Three Doors Down and Thriller by Michel Jackson. Our favorite subject was Science and history and we both liked to play RPGs.

After we ate we started walking down the street again still laughing together when we heard shouts coming down the street.

"Crud!" Sán-Li yelled breaking into a run. Into the direction of the shouts.

"Where are you going?" I yelled running after her.

"Go home Sam!" she yelled at me.

Then she pressed behind her ear and a weird device unfolded and turned into an earpiece.

"Princess! Her house! Now!" She yelled. There was a slight paused and then she yelled again. "Forget your cover! Just be here now!"

"What is going on?" I asked her.

"Just get out of here!" she screamed at me angrily.

She stopped for a second, bent down, and pressed a spot on her shoe. I gaped as two rockets appeared on both sides on her shoes and she blasted into the air and out of sight.

Fred POV

I was walking Fina home after we ate because she was hopelessly lost as usual.

"So I'll see you tomorrow?" I asked her.

Fina giggled and nodded and then I heard a blinking sound coming from her ear.

"What is that?" I asked trying to get a better look.

"Umm, no-nothing." she mumbled.

She then turned around and this weird earpiece came out of nowhere. There was some shouting and Fina mumbled something in response and then looked at me. I heard the shouting again. "Forget your cover! Just be here now!"

Fina then turned and looked at me.

"Wanna go for a ride?" she asked me nervously.

Sán-Li POV

A block away from Jolie's house I found them. The street was pretty much cleared, but I guess that was due to the giant black monster! The thing was huge, made of nothing but blackness, and its arms were bigger than the rest of it. Instead of a face it had on this weird looking mask. I then saw Joleena in the thing's hand. Her shoulder was covered in blood and she was unconscious.

"Joleena!" I heard Joe call out.

He was running towards her and the monster with her charm in his hand and there was a gash on his forehead.

"Dammit." I muttered and rocketed into the air.

I pulled out my ancient katana swords and flew around it, cutting every chance I got. The monster growled in pain and tried to hit me with the arm that was holding Joleena. When it was at the right position I sliced through its wrist, making its hand, and Joleena fall. I tried to fly and catch her but the thing blocked me by trying to swat me.

"Shoot!" I yelled.

But just then Fina came out of nowhere as a winged horse and Fred caught Joleena. Wait Fred? What was he doing here?

Joe POV

I had never been so happy to see Fred when he and that white horse caught Joleena (I will take time to be shocked after I make sure Joleena is safe) But when I tried to run to where they landed I was knocked back by Sán-Li.

"Hey, what are you-" But then I saw that the monster had made a swing at me and she had just saved my life.

"Give that charm to Joleena!" She told me before flying into the thing's face.

It roared and stepped away for a minute. I took that as an opportunity to run to where Joleena was. I wasn't really surprised to see Fina kneeling by her side, even when she healed her shoulder. After all, she was the same girl who healed me. If this wasn't a crazy dream that is. Joleena moaned then sat up and when she looked at me she ran over.

"God! I'm so sorry!" She cried. "Are you okay?"

"Sán-Li said to use this." I said giving her the charm.

"Right!" she nodded.

"Anytime princess!" Sán-Li yelled actually doing good job of fighting that thing off.

"Ahhhh!" someone screamed just then.

We all jumped and saw Sam who was screaming at the monster.

"Sam!" Sán-Li yelled turning around

The monster took that moment and grabbed her, making her swords fall. The stub where its hand had been suddenly grew a claw and slowly moved it to Sán-Li's neck.

"Hurry Joleena!" Fina cried. "Kill it!"

"I can't!" Joleena said. "If I try now it'll kill Sán-Li too.

Sam POV

Oh no no no. Sán-Li is about to be killed because I was such a coward! I had to think of something quickly. Then I saw her swords lying on the ground. Right next to the monster's feet.

"Sán-Li's swords!" I pointed then ran towards them.

"Sam wait! I'll get them!" Fred yelled but I ignored him.

I was almost near them when the monster spotted me and made a grab for me.

Sán-Li POV

_No no no, not him. God please not Sam!_ That was the only thing that ran through my head as the monster forgot about cutting it off and reached for Sam instead.

Then the most amazing thing happened. Just as its hand almost closed on him, Sam slid underneath it and grabbed one of my swords. Then that amazing little geek stood up and stabbed the monster's foot.

It screamed/roared and dropped me. Luckily Fina flew up as the horse again and caught me.

"Finally." Joleena muttered.

She planted her feet and closed her eyes. She held her charm up and it levitated between her hands. Her staff appeared and she spun it until it was just a blurry circle. When she opened her eyes they were glowing purple.

"Wind of Aria!" she yelled. "Banish!"

The wind made by the staff flowed through the glowing charm and turned into this bright light that destroyed the monster.

"Sán-Li are you okay?" Sam asked me quietly.

"Yeah," I said softly. "Thanks to you."

"Good." he said then promptly fainted.

Joe POV.

I ran over to Joleena and hugged her tightly.

"Thank God your safe." I whispered.

"Well duh!" she said pulling away. "I can handle myself you know!"

Just then, we heard police sirens screeching towards us. Fina turned into a white cat and away, San-Li handed Sam and Fre, winked, and flew away on her shoes, and Joleena waved around her staff until it started to sparkle.

"You guys better run away." She said to me with a small smile. Then she waved her staff over herself and vanished.

Fred and I took one look at each other and dragged Sam home before the cops could come and start asking questions. Did I mention that I was an hour late for curfew and got grounded for a week?


	7. Chapter 6

Joe P.O.V

A week later I was sitting at home trying to get rid of Fred's high score on my NASCAR video game. Fortunately Fred had baseball practice and Sam was working in his "lab" so they weren't here to laugh at me when I crashed into a tree. I had gotten over my crush on Joleena by the way. Not that she wasn't great, I just didn't like her the way I thought I did.

I was pretty content until _it _came home. I swear I even felt the room shake at Anna slammed the front door. She stomped up the steps and slammed the door, making me crash, again!

"Anna!" I yelled, busting into her room. I was surprised to see her on her bed, crying her eyes out.

"Go away!" she sobbed.

"What's wrong?" I asked, worried. This was really unlike Anna. She usually lets nothing get her down.

"You wouldn't care." she mumbled.

"Tell me." I said.

"It's this new girl, Ally." Anna said sitting up. "She's having a birthday party this Saturday and everyone in my class got invited but me!"

"Maybe she just forgot?" I asked.

"Well, Catlin said that someone as cool as Ally would never invite a little nobody like me and everyone started to laugh!" Anna cried.

"Well, what's so great about Ally anyway?" I asked.

"She's the coolest girl ever!" Anna mumbled. "She's been all over the world and done exhotic things and everyone likes her!"

"Well, you've done cool things too!" I told her. "You steal my book and time travel all over the world!"

"Like anyone would believe me." Anna mumbled and went back into her pillows.

I was trying to come up with more "big brother" things to say when the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it." I said.

I opened the door and was surprised to see a butler and a limo outside.

"Is Miss Anna Author home?" he asked me.

"Umm...yes?" Anna said behind me.

"Miss Ally apologizes," he said. "For not inviting you earlier but she ran out of paper invitations and hopes you would accept this personal one to her party tomorrow with limo service."

"Really?" Anna said perking up. "Yes! I accept!"

After he left I went back to my room to avoid having to hear Anna gush over a stupid party. I was half way up the steps when the doorbell rung again.

"Uncle Joe?" I asked, surprised to see him there.

"I'm sorry Joe but we have no time for chit-chat" he said nervously pushing past me.

"Why? What's wrong?" I asked then got this sinking feeling, "Is it Mad Jack."

"No, nothing like that." he said. "but I do need you assistance."

"With what?" I said excitedly.

He handed me a flyer and I just stared. It was a flyer for Ally's birthday party.

"I have been commissioned to perform at a very important event." Uncle Joe said.

"But Uncle Joe," I said slowly. "This is just a little girl's birthday party."

"Not just any little girl though," Uncle Joe said. "She just may be the next in line for the throne of one of the most powerful magic kingdoms! Her or her older sister."

Now _that _made a lot more sense. So Uncle Joe and I practiced a few tricks and routines to make sure we were ready. The next day the limo came to pick Anna up but Uncle Joe just said a few words and we were transported into a living room. I looked at all of the fancy and expensive looking furniture and gave a low whistle.

"Oh thank God you're here!" a skinny and nervous man with a small goatee came out of a room and rushed over to us.

"My name is Antione and I'm the events coordinator." He said. "You're just in time. You go on in ten minutes. So get something to drink now!"

He rushed away again and Uncle Joe turned to me.

"You go ahead nephew, I have to make sure we brought everything." he said a little nervously.

"Okay, " I shrugged. "And relax Uncle Joe, you're like the best magician ever!"

"I should hope so nephew, " he said, "For our lives might depend on Ally's or her sister's happiness one day."

I gulped and went out into the backyard to get a soda when I thought I saw someone familiar standing near the coolers.

"Joleena?" I aske walking up to her.

"Joe." she said coldly without really looking at me.

Did I mention that after I had gotten off of punishment Joleena decided to say yes to me but I had to tell her that I just wanted to be friends? Well I did so she's sorta ticked off with me. Something about "playing with her feelings", at least that's what Fina told me.

"Awww Come on, I said I was sorry," I pleaded. I then pulled out the heavy arsenal and gave her the I'm-so-sorry-please-forgive-me-look. "Pleeeaaasssee?"

At first she tried to suppress a smile but a few seconds later she gave in.

"Oh alright," she sighed. "I guess its cool if we're just friends. You weren't that cute anyway." she smirked. "So what are you doing here anyway?"

"My uncle's the magician and I'm here to assist him." I told her taking a sip of soda. "Why are you here?"

"I'm Ally's older sister." she said then stepped back as a spray of soda came out of my mouth.


	8. Chapter 7

"Are you alright?" Joleena asked handing me a napkin.

"Uh-huh." I muttered and mumbled an excuse about finding my uncle.

"Uncle Joe, I-" I started to say but he cut me off.

"We're almost on nephew and I saw you talking to Miss Joleena." he said wagging his eyebrows. "You didn't tell me you were aquinted with her."

"Yeah, but-"

"Hold that thought Joe, we're on!"

Uncle Joe pulled me behind a mini stage and a few seconds later the curtains rose. I saw Anna sitting next to a girl her age who looked a lot like Joleeena but with lighter skin and her hair was in pigtails on both sides of her head. The girl's seat was pink and covered with flowers and ballons that had Ally printed on them. My stomach twisted with nervousness when Joleena sat down next to her and smirked at me.

"Ladies and gentlemen," my uncle said in a grand voice. "I would first like to give my fondest wishes to the lovest, most beautiful, birthday girl Ally."

He then pulled out a rose out of thin air and handed it to me. I can't tell you how I did it (because even I don't know how) I crumpled it up but when I opened my hands it had transformed into a full bouquet. I tossed to Ally who caught it and giggled.

"He's so cute!" she giggled to Anna.

"Now for our next trick," I said. "We shall conjure up another gift for Ally!"

Uncle Joe tossed me his hat and I rolled it around my shoulders a few times then tossed it back to him. He did some did some stuff with his hands and made it disappear entirely. It re-appeared in on my head. I slowly pulled it off and revealed a small bunny with a pink bow tied around its neck.

"For you." I handed it to Ally.

The whole audience awwed and Joleena smiled at me. Uncle Joe and I performed and few more smaller tricks and then it was time for the finale. This one was a little nerve wracking because it was a little played out. It was the old disappearing act with a box that had a hidden compartment for the assistant to hide in. We planned to have me hide in it and change into different clothes really fast. When I rolled it out though, Ally had something else in mind.

"Seen it!" she said. "There's a hidden part in there. Make someone re-appear outside of the box."

"Well, um," Uncle Joe said, starting to sweat. "Of course I can do that. Nephew?"

I started to climb in the box, wondering what he had in mind.

"I brought The Book with me," he whispered quickly, "Use it to warp-"

"Not him!" Ally spoke up again. "I want Joe to sit with me! Make my sister disappear!"

Joleena flashed her a look then stood up. I could feel myself start to sweat nervously as I helped her on stage.

"Relax," she whispered, giving my hand a gentle squeeze. "I got this."

I looked down and saw her holding her charm- thing in her hands. I nodded to my uncle and hopped off of the stage. I sat down next to Ally who immediately threaded her arm through mine. Uncle Joe led Joleena into the box and shut the door.

"Fallana Disapeara!" Uncle Joe yelled waving a wand.

There was a puff of purple smoke and a loud bang. Uncle Joe opened the box and as the smoke cleared we saw that Joleena really had vanished.

"Now I'll take this box away..." Uncle Joe said rolling it off- stage. "Anallaf Reapeara!"

There was another loud bang and Joleena reappeared in another puff of purple smoke _behind _the audience. She even managed to look surprise. While the kids crowded around Uncle Jack and me, I managed to catch Joleena's eye. _Thanks _I mounthed. Joleena winked at me and smiled.

* * *

"You're going and that's that." Nicole said to her daughter who didn't answer. She waited a moment but her daughter didn't seem to even be listening.

"Sydney!" she said more sternly.

"Yeah! I heard you the first time okay!" Sydney yelled. "I just don't see why I'm the one who has to do it!"

"Because you-" Nicole started to yell but she took a breath to calm herself. "Because a god or goddess of time, with some others, have to determine whether or not she is worthy and we have chosen you to represent us."

"Determine if she's worthy?" Sydney asked without even attempting to mask her anger. "Her father was King Marque of Syrania wasn't he?"

"Yes-" her mother said with an exaspperated sigh. "but-"

"And as his oldest, living daughter, " Sydney interrupted, "Shouldn't she in effect be the rightful heir to his throne?"

"Yes, but-"

"So I don't see why anyone has to determine whether or not she's worthy of it!" Sdyney finished.

"Because Maque had deemed himself unworthy by abdictating his throne!" Nicole yelled angrily then sighed.

She then sent Sydney out of the room with nothing but a blurry picture of Joleena about two years ago with some stuff written on the back. Because she had dropped out of the magic world when her father gave up his throne, no one had really kept an eye on her. Sydney sighed angrily but smiled when she read one of the notes. Joleena's father had been last known living in New Jersey which wasn't that far from Brooklyn, New York.

_Screw Nicole, _Sydney thought with a mischeivious smile. _I think its time to pay Joe a little visit instead._


	9. Chapter 8

Everyone was at Joe's house playing cards. First, Fred had come over towing along Fina. They said they were just friends but they were almost inseparable now. Sam came over later and San-Li had come downstairs from Joe's room without Joe ever knowing she was up there in the first place. Joe had freaked out and called Joleena over, the only one San-Li ever halfway listened to. So Joleena came over and started to play cards with them but Joe was still furious at San-Li for breaking into his house. To stop them from arguing, Joleena sweetly convinced Joe to help her make a bag of popcorn. He reluctantly agreed and followed Joleena into the kitchen.

"I can't believe you never made popcorn before." Joe said, his good humor slowly returning.

He handed Joleena the box and looked in the cabinet for a bowl. He turned around just in time to see Joleena try to put the whole pack in the microwave without even removing the plastic first.

"You don't do much on your own, do you?" Joe asked with a slight chuckle.

"No," Joleena smiled. "Why would I? I'm rich remember?"

"And a princess." Joe added.

Joleena spun around with a look of shock on her face.

"H-how did you-"

"My uncle told me."

"How would he?"

"Well, um..." Joe started, not sure of what to tell her.

Just then the doorbell rang, causing him to jump then give a sigh of relief. "I'll get it."

Joleena watched the microwave in silence. There was something Joe wasn't telling her but she couldn't figure out what. He _and _his friends reacted way too calmly about what happened a week ago and they still didn't seem freaked. She wondered if they knew more about magic then they let on. That or too many comic books.

"Sydney?" she heard Joe exclaim happily.

There was the sound of talking and laughing and then Joe walked into the kitchen with a girl that Joleena had never seen before. She was tall with dark blond hair, bright blue eyes with a green ring around them, and was wearing ripped jeans and a black T-shirt. Joleena already knew that the green ring meant time goddess. What she didn't know was how Joe knew a time goddess. Is that why he and his friends are so cool with magic?

"Joleena," Joe smiled at her, "Meet my friend, Sydney."

"Hey." they said at the same time, a little bit awkward.

Just then the houses shook accompanied by a large slam and screaming. Joe and Joleena took one glance at each other and hurried upstairs to his room.

Fred stood protectively in front of Fina while Sam clung to his side. They only one calm was San-Li, standing with her arms crossed and a knowing look on her face. Before all of them there was a huge black spider. Not huge as in tarantula huge, but huge as in bigger than Joe's bed! It looked like it was being held down by some invisible force but when it tried to jerk again; you could see thin, almost invisible wires were holding it down. The wires came from small, blue diamonds posted in the corners of Joe's ceiling.

"Wha-wha- what is that thing!" Sam freaked.

"Well, obviously Sam," San-Li said sarcastically, "It's as spider."

"Well, what's it doing here?" Fred asked. "And why is it so huge?"

"Because it's out to kill Joleena." A voice said from the doorway.

Everyone turned and saw Sydney standing in the doorway.

"You don't do a very good job of staying hidden, princess." She said with a glare to Joleena. "You could have put everyone here in danger!"

"If it wasn't for Joleena's intuition," San-Li yelled at Sydney, "I would never have caught this thing in the first place!"

"You knew about this thing?" Joe asked still staring at it as it struggled to break free.

"I'm sorry Joe," Joleena said sadly. "I knew something was probably after me but-"

"Then why didn't you just leave him alone!" Sydney yelled. "This thing is after _you, _so it followed you to Joe's house and-"

"It's not after just princess!" San-Li snapped "It was after both of them, duh!"

The room got deadly quiet. Then everyone jumped as the spider bumped into the night stand, still struggling to break free. Then Joe spoke in a somewhat shaky voice.

"Why would it be after me?" he said.

San-Li turned to him with a smirk on her face. "You are the future Warp Wizard, aren't you?"

"You're WHAT!" Joleena exploded. "Here I am worried half to death that me being around you-"

"Joleena," Joe tried to interrupt her, but she kept going.

"would bring harm to you and your friends-"

"Joleena."

"but here I find out-"

"Joleena, will you just-"

"you already have reason to be in danger! And not only that-"

"Joleen-"

"but you never told me?"

"Joleena!" Joe finally yelled. "I was afraid, okay? I thought you wouldn't believe me."

"But you found out about me," Joleena said. "You knew I was involved in magic, why wouldn't I believe you?"

"Because then I never had a chance!" Joe said in exasperation. "And then I have an evil uncle after me and –"

"I don't care, Joe." Joleena said in a much calmer voice. "You're my friend and obviously, we're in this together."

Joleena smiled at Joe and he smiled back. Sydney shuffled her feet and coughed. "Um, excuse me? Sorry to break your moment, but there's a huge, evil spider in the room. Shouldn't we…"

"Wait! Sydney don't say-"Joleena tried to interrupt but Sydney didn't hear her.

"…find out where it came from?" Sydney finished.

"San-Li quickly you need to-"Joleena tried to tell San-Li something but just then the spider let out the most blood curdling sound anyone had ever heard.

Everyone else covered their ears but on Joe and Joleena the noise had a much worse effect. Joleena was the first one to clutch her head and fall to her knees, crying out in pain.

"Joleena!" Joe started to go to her but then he fell, clutching his head in pain too.

Fina screamed and ran to Joleena's side. She put her hand on Joleena's shoulder but pulled it away in shock. It was spotted with blood; Joleena's ears were beginning to bleed.

"San-Li!" Fina screamed. "Kill it, now!"

San-Li pulled a gun out of the inside of her jacket and fired it three times. The spider's body jerked with each shot and then it vanished into a swirl of black mist. Every straightened up feeling a little sick but Joe and Joleena stayed collapsed on the floor.

"What was that?" Fred asked.

"That," San-Li said glaring at Sydney. "was it trying to kill its targets quickly so we wouldn't follow it to its master."

"Well, wasn't it going to try to kill them anyway?" Sydney asked glaring at her back.

"No! It was going to take them back to its master!" San-Li said through gritted teeth.

"And just how to you know this?" Sydney scoffed.

"Because if it really wanted to kill them," San-Li said. "It would have done that scream thing long before you said anything about following it!"

"You know," Sydney said, stepping closer to San-Li and lowering her voice, "I've been wondering about you and I'm not so sure I trust you."

San-Li glared back and Sam saw her eyes go colder than he had ever seen before. There was a noticeable tension in the air.

"How do we know _you _didn't send that thing yourself?" Sydney said.

"Because," San-Li said stepping closer too and lowering her voice. "if I really wanted to kill them," here she lowered her voice to a whisper only Sydney could hear. "_I would have done it a long time ago_."

"San-Li," Fina said. She had been kneeling next to Joe and Joleena the entire time and was focused on them, not what was going on between Sydney and San-Li. There were tears in her eyes. "I can't heal this. I need a healing stone for something like this."

"There's one at Draylon." Sydney said stepping away from San-Li and trying to shake off the wave of fear that just came over her. "We need to leave, now!"

She then snapped her fingers and they all vanished without a trace.

**A/N- please review, I'd like to know how I'm doing with this story**


	10. Chapter 9

They landed in the middle of a bright and sunny court with no ceilings. When the guards saw who warped in they rushed over.

"Take these two to the infirmary, and give her the healing stone." Sydney ordered pointing to Joe, Joleena, and Fina.

As the guards left carrying Joe and Joleena, Fina followed them anxiously biting her lip. Fred started to follow her but San-Li held him back.

"Let her go," she told him, "Blondie knows what she's doing."

San-Li then walked over to one of the walls decorated with plaques and medals. She looked at them closely and turned with a smirk to Sydney.

"So you're a fighter, are you?"

* * *

When they got to the brightly lit infirmary, the guards carefully laid Joe and Joleena on separate beds, bowed and left. Another guard came in with something round wrapped in a dark blue cloth and handed it to Fina with a bow. After he left, she carefully unwrapped it and found herself staring at one of the few remaining healing stones in existence.

Fina held it between her hands and focused her energy into her palms. When her hands and the stone started to glow with a white light, she gently placed the stone on Joleena's stomach. With her hands still glowing she traced energy paths down Joleena's arms and up her legs, leading to the center of the stone. The paths glowed for a while then faded. As soon as they disappeared, the blood that had started to leak out of Joleena's mouth receded and she started to cough. She opened her eyes and gave Fina a grateful smile.

"Thanks." She rasped. Then she looked over where Joe was laying. "Will he be alright?"

"He will be." Fina answered then moved over to Joe's side to do the same thing.

After she was done, Joe groaned and tried to sit up.

"What happened?" he asked. "What was that thing?"

"It was a, uh…" Joleena started to explain, "A shadow stalker."

"A shadow stalker?" Joe asked turning slightly pale. "And it tried to a…ahem, kill us? And you said it had been after you for a while?"

"_They_" Joleena corrected. "Multiple shadow stalkers have been sent after for quite some time now; ever since I found out about my magic history. But only the past few times have they been out to actually kill me."

"Obviously, someone doesn't want Joleena to reclaim her throne," Fina piped in. "Or even live. And now we believe that same someone is trying to prevent _you_ from becoming the Warp Wizard."

"Me?" Joe said sinking back into the pillows. He looked like he was about to throw up.

"Remember that burn your book gave you a little while back?" Fina asked.

"You mean when you saved my life?" Joe said with a faint smile.

Fina blushed a little and the continued. "Well, someone put a jump curse on it so whoever touched it next would slowly die."

Joe felt his eyes widen. At first is just seemed like he was the target, but Anna could have easily been the one to have touched The Book.

"And then there was that car that tried to kill you." Joleena said looking sadly at Fina. "So you wouldn't be here to save us from anything else."

"So what are we going to do?" Joe asked. "How do we stop all of this? Someone innocent could get seriously hurt next time?"

Fina and Joleena looked at each other. They knew that San-Li knew _exactly _who was sending these shadow stalkers. The question was; do they let Joe get more involved than he was already? However, Joe understood that look immediately.

"Joleena, no." he said firmly, swinging his legs over the bed to face her. "You're not leaving me out of this. I go where you go."

Joleena sighed and closed her eyes. She opened them and was about to answer when they heard a loud crash. It was coming from the court.

* * *

San-Li and Sydney were beating the crap out of each other. Sydney's lower lip was busted, San-Li had a black eye, and both were covered in blood, dirt, and bruises. A lean tan girl with blond hair cut into a cute bob was calling out Sydney's name, shouting to the guards, and generally going into hysterics trying to break up the fight. Sydney was good, incredible even, but San-Li was good too.

Sydney punched San-Li in the face and then kneed her in the stomach. San-Li almost went down on one knee but caught herself, and instead grabbed a handful of Sydney's hair. She threw Sydney into a nearby pillar, making another _crash_ and making the other girl scream in fear. But Sydney was tough, she came running back, delivered an upper cut to San-Li's jaw and then tried to deliver a round house kick to San-Li's side but San-Li caught it and kicked Sydney instead.

"How did this happen?" Joe yelled.

"San-Li challenged Sydney to a fight!" Fred explained, clearly enjoying the action.

"Make her stop!" The blond girl said tearfully to Joe. "Please make them stop or someone will get hurt!"

First Joe tried to make San-Li stopped then Sydney but neither girl was listening to him. Both had too much pride to let the other win. Then Joleena spoke.

"San-Li." She said in a firm, clear voice.

Immediately San-Li broke away from Sydney and gave Joleena a slight bow. She held her foot up slightly as if she had hurt her ankle and couldn't stand on it. The blond girl ran over Sydney who glared at San-Li like she thought she was going to try something.

"Why is it," Joleena asked San-Li. "Why is it every time I leave you alone with someone, there's bloodshed?"

San-Li smirked for an answer and tried to hide it. Joleena inclined her head towards the direction of the infirmary, dismissing San-Li. As she started to hobble away, Sam came up to her and put his hand on her shoulder. San-Li looked at him in surprise at first, but then put her arm around his shoulder and let him put an arm around her waist. Together they slowly walked to the infirmary in silence. Fred and Fina followed whispering together.

"You okay?" Joleena asked Sydney.

"I'll be fine." Sydney smiled then winced. "Sorry about snapping on you earlier. I was just a little off."

"No problem." Joleena smiled. "Um, would it be okay if we stayed for a little while? We have a big trip that we need to prepare for."

"Sure." Sydney nodded. "Just tell me when we're ready to leave."

"You're coming with us?" Joe asked happily.

"Of course," Sydney smiled as the blond girl led her to a separate infirmary. "Someone has to look after your sorry behind. Princess Joleena has enough to handle."

"I like her." Joleena laughed as Sydney left.

"By the way," Joe asked. "Where are we going?"

The smile on Joleena's face faded.

"To the Land of the Dead."

* * *

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Kayla asked Sydney as she helped her onto the bed. "I thought you were supposed to be watching her."

"There's no reason why I can't help her too." Sydney said. "She has _no idea _what kind of crap she's up against. And I doubt her friends are going to be enough help, especially the San-Li girl."

"Okay." Kayla sighed. "Nicole isn't gonna like this."


	11. Chapter 10

**A/N- does anyone else feel that no one is reading their stories? b/c I looked at my stats and my first few chapters of this story have about 20-30 hits but these more recent chapters have only about 6 or 7 hits. If its just me then I'd like some feedback on how I can improve my stories/chapters. Review!**

Nicole was practically glaring at San-Li as Joleena explained their plan to her, against the advice of Sydney.

"What I don't understand," Sydney had said earlier. "Is why you need to tell her in the first place? We should just go! To hell with Nicole."

"You don't understand," Joleena said with measured patience, "because you're not being tested by mystery gods and goddesses. One bad review and it might be 10 years before I can even think about my throne again."

So there they were in the court again and Joleena was explaining why they were headed to the Land of the Dead and why Sydney was going with her. The reason why Nicole was glaring at San-Li was obvious. For one thing, Joleena had changed into a purple dress with bell sleeves and mystic blue designs, and Fina had on brown pants and a white peasant blouse, but San-Li was wearing tight black pants, a tight, dark blue mid-drift, a black jacket, and fingerless black gloves, looking as much as a bad girl as possible. The other reason was that Nicole had heard about Sydney and San-Li's grudge match and instead of completely demolishing her opponent like Nicole expected her daughter to do, she couldn't even knock her out.

So Nicole's glare was basically a mixture of motherly distrust and hurt pride. John on the other hand, was looking very interested in Joleena's plans.

"Hmm," he rubbed his chin when she had finished. "You have this very well planned, but you do realize how dangerous this is, don't you? This is after all, the Land of the Dead."

"Yes, sir." Joleena said with a bow. "But we of royal Syranian blood are not afraid of a few monsters, nor do we run from shadows."

John laughed a bit and nodded his head. "Yes, you Syranians are indeed a proud and power family."

"But understand," He said suddenly becoming serious, "that I can't really help you in your endeavors. This is just the sort of situations that your judges love to see how you handle."

"Do you know who her judges are?" Fred asked earning a glare from Joleena for interrupting.

"I do not." John answered. "Neither could I tell you if I did know. However, I wish you the best of luck."

"And be careful," Nicole added with a small smile to Joleena. "And you, young lady," she said turning to Sydney, "this would be the perfect opportunity to work on your, ahem, combat skills."

San-Li let out a smothered snicker and Sydney looked tempted to smack her.

"Well we must be off now." Joleena said hastily before anything could start again.

* * *

"So how do we get to the Land of the Dead?" Joe asked as they left and went outside.

"Do you have the Book?" Joleena asked.

Joe nodded and handed to Joleena who handed it to San-Li. She nodded and led them behind a tree, out of site of the castle. San-Li motioned them back away from right beside the tree and she waited.

"What are we waiting for?" Sam asked looking nervous.

"A friend." San-Li smirked at Sam's face. "I made a call last night."

Suddenly it seemed to get 10 degrees colder behind the tree, and the air, right where the shadow and the tree meet, began to ripple. Fina turned into a cat, hissed in fear, and bound into Fred's arms. Looking also a bit pale, Fred took off his hat and used it to cover Fina's eyes.

Eerily, a dark figure slowly ascended from the ripple. It was a girl about their age. She had on a long, black hooded cloak, dark skin, dark indigo eyes, and dark purple hair that flowed out in long waves on both sides of her head. She smiled when she saw San-Li.

"Long time, no see." She said in a Russian accent.

"Yeah," San-Li shrugged. "You know, got thrown into maximum security prison and since _he _never broke me out I had to wait forever for princess to bail me out."

"Really?" the girl asked. "Cause the night you got arrested Blade said-"

"Um, excuse me?" Sydney interrupted impatiently. "I thought we were doing something here?"

The hooded girl snapped her head in Sydney's direction and her eyes started to glow red. A shadow started to appear under Sydney's feet but San-Li put her hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Can't," San-Li said shaking her head. "Joleena wants this one alive."

"How unfortunate." She said, her eyes going back to normal and the shadow disappearing. "Now, what was it that you needed?"

"We need to go to the Land of the Dead." Joleena said and nodded for San-Li to hand her the Book.

When the girl touched it, it turned an even deeper shade of blue, almost black.

"Where did you get one?" the girl asked in wonder.

"Um, me." Joe said. "I'm the future Warp Wizard."

The girl looked at Joe with a mixture of shock and awe on her face.

"So…" Fred said feeling impatient. "Can you take us there?"

"Of course!" the girl said indignantly. "But first I need a drop..." A slow smile spread across her face, "of someone's blood."

"Right here." San-Li said grabbing Sydney hand and cutting it across the palm with a knife.

No one had noticed San-Li move behind Sydney and she had caught them all by such surprise that Sydney didn't have time to react until San-Li had already cut her.

"Why you little-"Sydney's eyes started to glow a dangerous green. San-Li smirked and handed the bloody knife to the hooded girl.

"Here," Fina interrupted changing back into her human form. "Give me your hand Sydney."

Sydney held out her bleeding palm and Fina held her hand over it. Fina's hand glowed white and the cut disappeared.

"If we're all ready?" the hooded girl asked sharing a smirk with San-Li.

Then she let go of the Book and let it hover in mid-air. The hooded girl also started to float and a huge shadow spread out of the ground, under the feet of everyone. Fina transformed into a mouse this time, crawled up Fred and hid under his hat. The hooded girl then took the knife in her hands and stabbed through the Book. As soon as the two make contact, there was a flash and everyone disappeared.

* * *

They reappeared in a beautiful yet dark place. All around them stretched dark, low grass, dotted her and there with large rock formations. The sky had been turning from red to black, casting an eerie light over everything. In one direction were they could see very distant mountains, in the other direction was a river. The entire place was exotic and beautiful, yet very dark and scary looking.

The hooded girl came down from her levitation and handed the Book, which had turned back to its usual color, to Joe.

"Thanks Jasmine." San-Li said to her.

The hooded girl bowed and descended into a ripple again.

"You can come out now Fina," Fred said lifting up his hat a little. "We're here."

But Fina, still a white mouse, shook her head and crept back further on Fred's head.

"Don't," Joleena said gently putting her hand on Fred's arm. "Fina's a healer; a place like this can make her deathly sick. Better leave her under there for a while."

"So what do we do know?" Sydney asked looking nervously around. "I don't like the feel of this place."

"We need to make a camp for the night." Joleena said. "Near one of those big rock formations, it'll get dark soon and it's not a good idea to be caught wandering around at night."

"Wh-what happens at night?" Sam asked standing very close to San-Li instead of Fred this time.

"Don't you know Sam?" San-Li said with a smirk. "The freaks come out at night."

* * *

**A/N- I sort of borrowed the _idea_ of the Land of the Dead from A.I.T but that's pretty much it. The rest is supposed to be my original idea but somethings might over lap just because. Jasmine is my own creation. She can manipulate shadows but she isn't an Undead like Kairi. If anything she's inspired by Raven from Teen Titans. It may seem like people just randomly hate Sydney but that's not the case, San-Li doesn't just doesn't like her and Jasmine is partly evil and snappy. Review!**

***An extra added note, Jasmine is one of the Dark Hearts from my first story when they go to the ball. If you don't remember then its not important, there will be more on them in later stories**

***Blade was also mentioned in that same story and he also has that one chapter in Time Warp Extras when he visits San-Li :}**


	12. Chapter 11

Even the brightly lit fire didn't seem to be able to take the chill off of the night. They were all sitting in front of it with their backs to a large boulder that Joleena had created magic symbols on to ward off evil. That didn't stop them from putting on a display though. As soon as the sun went down strange white lights floated in the air. Those actually would have been pretty, if it wasn't for what came with those lights. Moans. Scary enough to make you cringe. Cries of agony. More terrible than anything you have ever had nightmares of before. Was it any wonder why no one could sleep?

Joleena and Sydney were sitting together, whispering. From the snatches of conversation Joe could hear, he guessed that they were talking about the usual girl stuff: boys, music, and clothes. Fred was looking a little nervous but was trying not to show it for Fina's sake. He sat and rubbed Fina's head (now a cat) and was unusually quiet. Sam sat close to Fred now and San-Li was keeping watch, staring off into the darkness, her hand on her gun. It seemed to take forever for morning to come.

When it finally did come they found that the sky was just a lighter shade of red from when they first arrived.

"So where are we headed?" Sydney asked Joleena.

"San-Li?" Joleena asked.

San-Li tapped the side of her glasses and the lenses turned red. Over them appeared what looked like maps.

"We head due west." She said with a smirk. "Toward a shadowed kingdom."

"Shadowed kingdom?" Fred asked cynically. "This sounds more like one of those lame RPGs Sam likes to play."

"A shadowed kingdom," Sydney said in a much sadder tone. "Do we know which one?"

San-Li shook her head and Joleena turned to us in order to explain.

"When a kingdom is shadowed," she said. "It means that it's been conquered by the shadow master. Eventually, depending on how strong the kingdom was, the overshadowed kingdom will crumple into nonexistence. But when it's shadowed, a duplicate kingdom, called the twilight kingdom is created in this world, adding to the dark lord's domain. "

"He likes to show off a bit," San-Li added. "So if a kingdom was particularly hard to conquer, he'll make its duplicate the center of his realm."

Fina transformed herself back into a human and stood next to Fred. She still looked a little pale but much better than before.

"Maybe we can free them." She asked.

"Can't hurt to try." Sydney said brightly.

San-Li and Joleena exchanged looks but said nothing.

After about a few hours of walking, we started to notice a few things. All this time there had been the sounds of bugs and a few moans, but now it was almost silent. A dry wind rustled the grass and every few seconds Fina was stop and stare like she saw something. But then she would shake her head and hurry to keep close to Fred.

"That's it," Sam said sitting down with a sigh. "I'm done, I can't walk anymore."

"My feet are kinda killing me." Joe added. "Can we rest for a bit?"

"No." San-Li said simply.

"Why not?" Sydney challenged.

For an answer, San-Li glared at her coldly.

"Because I said so that's why."

"I'm kinda with them in this, San-Li." Joleena said with a small wince. "My feet hurt too, and we have been walking for quite a bit."

"Something's here." Fina said in an urgent whisper.

Before anyone could ask what though, she transformed herself into a lioness and leaped into a nearby tree. Everyone stood stock still, not even daring to breathe.

"Fina?" Fred started to ask.

That's when the attack came. It seemed to come out of nowhere, but if you looked closely you could see a dark ripple in the air. It was also a good thing that Fred had such fast reflexes. The giant, drooling beast made out of nothing but darkness, had missed his head by near inches. It had to be about seven ft in length and was about as bid as a school bus. It had a body like a huge panther except that its back legs were short and its forearms were extremely long and ended in six inch claws. The monster's jaw seemed almost too big for its head and was filled with deadly looking teeth. Even though it didn't seem to have eyes, it still managed to stare at them with a look that could only be described as hungry.

Fred was still on his back, staring in shock at the thing that had almost had taken his head off with its razor claws.

"A Scremtch." Joleena whispered in fear.

The Scremtch paused for just a second, and then with a blood curdling scream it reared up and lunged down at Fred. Fred yelled and seemingly out of the air came a white streak. Fred opened his eyes and saw that Fina was clawing at the scremtch's face. She had apparently had some instinct of what was happening and had come to Fred's rescue.

"Go! Go hide behind that boulder!" Joleena yelled shoving Joe, Sam, and Fred behind a nearby boulder.

"Joleena, wait!" Joe cried, afraid that she was actually going to try to fight that thing.

"Don't argue with me, just do it!" Joleena practically screamed.

While the boys hid, Sydney, San-Li, Fina, and Joleena fought one of the most dangerous beasts known to magical existence.

The Scremtch bucked Fina off but before she even hit the ground San-Li fired two shots into its face. That only seemed to irritate it. San-Li swore and tried to put a different clip into her gun, but she couldn't get it to click. The Scremtch raised an arm to swipe at her, but its arm was caught in midair by a glowing ring of purple. In the air behind it, Joleena was floating and struggling to hold its arm up. The dream catcher end of her staff also glowed purple. The Scremtch though, was more successful. It brought its arm down and Joleena, unable it hold it any longer fell down in front of it. Before she could get up the Scremtch pinned her down with one paw and slowly bent down, opening its jaws and drooling. San-Li pulled a long dagger with something carved on the blade out from behind her back. She stabbed the Scremtch in the hand, and it reared up in pain and agony, but it didn't release Joleena. Sydney saw that it wasn't going to let go easily so she gathered green energy into her palm and blasted the Scremtch in the back.

The Scremtch roared in pain and then Fina, transformed into a white rhino, head-butted into it. Finally, the monster released Joleena. It turned toward Sydney, screamed and then ran towards her instead. Right before it reached her though, it suddenly vanished in a swirl of black mist.

"Is it gone?" Sam asked shakily.

"It looks like it." Joleena said slowly, looking around suspiciously.

"Is is just me," Sydney asked, "Or was that too easy?"

Nothing but silence answered her. Everyone gathered closer together, not really sure of what was going to happen next. Sydney was the first to vanish. They heard her give a small cry and where she once stood, a swirl of black mist was evaporating. Sam was next. Then it was Fred, Fina, Joe, and San-Li.

Joleena stood by herself, suddenly alone. She looked around wildly for a minute and the sighed.

"I guess you found me." She said with a wry smile.

There was a dark cackle behind her and Joleena slowly turned around. The shadow master smiled at her and held out his hand. Even though her mouth was in the shape of a smirk, her eyes were ablaze with hatred. Regardless, she took his hand and they vanished in a swirl of black mist.


	13. Chapter 12

Joe paced back and forth in their cell, grumbling to himself.

"Ugh! There has got to be a way out of here!" he yelled for the fifth time.

"We're trying to figure a way out, Joe." Sydney tried to calm him down.

Fred and was trying to dig underneath the cell door, Sam was sitting on the floor with a thoughtful look on his face, and San-Li was lying down on the floor, staring up at the ceiling. Fina sat cross-legged on the floor and looked at San-Li as if waiting for instruction.

Fred grunted and took a break to stretch. "Why am I the one who always has to dig?"

"Because I'm waiting for something to pop out of the ground and rip your arms out so you can learn that we need a plan before we break out." San-Li said calmly.

That made him pause for a moment, wondering if she was joking. But when San-Li showed no sign that she was teasing him, he immediately got up and sat next to Fina. The mere mention of a plan though, made Joe spring back into action.

"A plan?" he accused. "All you've been doing is lying on your back! Joleena is out there somewhere and who knows what's happening to her?"

"He has a point, ya know," Sydney put in. "This shadow master sent assigns after her, and now he has her right in his kingdom."

"So then why did he put us in jail?" San-li asked. "If he was going to kill us we'd be spread out in his courtyard. No, he's up to something."

"Power!" Sam exclaimed suddenly. They all looked at him.

"Don't you see," Sam explained, "Syrania must have some secret power that only a royal could control or activate or whatever, and so he must be using her for that!"

"But there is no…" San-Li started to say but Fina gave a little cough. San-Li raised an eyebrow and Fina suddenly looked nervous and embarrassed. "Fina…"

"Well…it's not really a power but it is somewhat important." She mumbled.

Everyone stared at her but she seemed reluctant to reveal more. San-Li's eyes narrowed and she took one step closer to her.

"Okay, Okay!" Fina burst out. "." She said on one breath.

San-Li sucked in a quick, angry breath and closed her eyes, but everyone else looked confused.

"Um…what?" Fred asked.

"I said-" Fina took a deep breath to say it all over again but a look of realization dawned of Joe's face. When he spoke his voice held both fear and awe:

"_There's a second Book?"_


	14. Chapter 13

Joleena didn't even cry out when the Shadow Master slapped her across the face.

"You will tell me now!" He roared in her face but she didn't even flinch.

Even since she was three Joleena had been trained to never shed an unnecessary tear, never show any anger, and to never show your enemy that you're afraid. She turned back stone faced to the shadow master and watched as his face twitched with anger. Her head actually snapped back when he slapped her this time and she could feel blood in her mouth. She forced herself not to spit it out though, and continued to give him a cold hard stare.

He was handsome and dark, incredibly so. His skin had a grayish, blue tint and his long, wavy hair was a dark purple. The only thing that wasn't dark was his eyes. Those were a cold, crystal blue and were memorizing.

* * *

"There are two Books." Joe repeated numbly, sliding to the floor. "There are two freakin' Books."

"Yes, Joe," San-li shook her head in pity. "There are two magic Books in all of existence."

"How come _I _didn't know about this?" Sydney crossed her arms over her chest. 'I am a goddess remember?"

"Yeah, but you're only the goddess of time travel." Fina explained apologetically. "So technically…"

"It was none of your business." San-Li smirked.

"Guys, let's focus here!" Sam injected before things could get ugly between them. "We have to figure out a way to stop the shadow master!"

"Sam's right," Joe said coming to. "Joleena could be in serious trouble."

"So how do we fight this guy?" Fred asked angrily. "You keep saying he's super powerful."

"We don't fight him." San-Li said playing with her glasses. "We destroy this kingdom's source of power, which will in effect destroy this shadow kingdom which will release the real kingdom from its bonds."

"Um, English?"

"Destroy the shadow kingdom. Free the real kingdom." Fina said.

"Yeah, but first we have to get out of this prison." Sydney mumbled.

San-Li smiled and finally sat up "I have an idea."

* * *

Joleena walked with her head held high as two dark red guards, the color of blood, led her to a small cell. She had expected her friends to be there but when they weren't, she made sure that she didn't show her disappointment. One of the guards pushed her so hard that she almost fell, but at the last minute she was able to catch herself.

The door slammed shut with a loud clanging sound and only after the guards were gone she let herself breathe again. A sob escaped her throat before she could stop it.

"Why are you crying?" She berated herself. "No one told you that this was some stupid fairy tale. You wanted to fight for your kingdom and now you're fighting for it!"

She wiped her eyes quickly and replaced her look of sorrow with a look of fierce determination and pride. She took a breath and let the words from Christina Aguilera "Fighter" play through her head.

"Ow!" Fred grumbled as he struggled to hold up San-Li.

Joe and Fred held on to San-Li's ankles as she stood on their shoulders. In one hand she held a dagger and was working it between two bricks on the ceiling. Suddenly, the blade broke through one of the corners and San-Li pulled something out.

"A key?" Sydney asked suspiciously. "How did you know that there was a key hidden up there?"

"I put it there, duh." San-Li rolled her eyes. 'How else am I supposed to help my friends break out?"

"So, you know which kingdom this is?" Fred asked.

"Duh," San-Li said as they lowered her down. "It's Syrania."

Fred and Joe lowered her down and she went to unlock the cell door.

"Okay, so up the stairs, I'll create a distraction and the rest of you go left, right, then left. Got it?"

"Wait-wait!" Sam panicked. "What?"

"Just go!" San-Li yelled and threw open the door.

* * *

Joleena looked up when she heard footsteps, hoping that it was Joe or better yet, San-Li. Instead she got a greasy looking guard with an even creepier smile.

"The shadow master said that you need a little convincing." He sneered.

Joleena's eyes widened when she understood exactly what he meant. He closed cell door with a slam and Joleena jumped to her feet. She reached for her charm and remembered that the shadow master took it from her before throwing her in here. She backed up against the wall.

"Don't come near me." She said in a low growl.

The guard laughed and took another step near her. And another.

* * *

They had been surrounded almost instantly. Seven of the biggest, scariest, and most gruesome guards who looked like lizards waved clubs, swords, spears at them. San-Li smirked and pulled out three, silver balls out of her pocket.

"Remember what I told you." She hissed to the others and then threw the balls.

Smoke filled the landing and Fina pulled the others over to the left. Sam looked back in time to see San-Li leap out of the smoke and start attacking guards left and right.

"Aren't we going to wait for her?" Fred asked as they ran.

"She knows what she's doing!" Fina called over her shoulder.

They went through a door and exploded into another hallway.

"Where are we going now?" Joe asked, panting.

"We're going to find Joleena," Fina said. "We can't do anything without her."

"The shadow master must have her locked up somewhere special." Sydney said. "But where?"

Suddenly they heard shouts coming from down the hall and then screaming.

"Joleena!" Joe cried and ran like crazy.

Suddenly a door exploded and a guard flew out and slammed into the wall with a sickening crunch. He was covered with blood and his face was unrecognizable. Joleena stumbled out of doorway with splashes of blood all over her dress. The shoulder of the dress was also ripped.

They all stared in horror as her eyes slowly stopped glowing. Joe took a step near her and put a hand on her shoulder. She shot him a stony glare but then her face cleared when she saw who it was. She saw the others staring at her and she started to walk away.

"Joleena?" Joe called softly.

She stopped but she didn't turn around. "Let's move."


	15. Chapter 14

They walked down the hall quickly, Joleena motioning them to keep quiet. There were two guards; one human and one giant lizard, guarding a door to their left around the corner. Joleena glanced back at the others and her heart sank. Fina was amazing, but she was still pretty young. She might be able to take down one of the guards, but a giant lizard man? She glanced at Sydney. She _was _the goddess of time art, but did that mean she could fight?

Sydney caught Joleena's eye and nodded. She understood. Joleena gave a small, curt nod and Sydney burst from around the corner firing energy blasts at the lizard guard. Fina went tearing after her a split second later as a lioness and attacked the human guard. The human guard struggled to get his sword out of its sheath but the lizard guard had no trouble swinging his club at Sydney. She was able to duck though and gather energy in her hands while the guard struggled to get his club out of the wall.

"Hey ugly!" Sydney yelled.

The guard turned and she blasted him in the face. The guard actually flew back few feet and scorch marks appeared in the floor. Fina and the human guard had disappeared further down the hall. They saw her a few minutes later though, back in her human form, holding her forearm.

"Fina!" Fred gasped and ran over to her. A pretty bad cut ran across her right forearm, but otherwise she looked alright.

"I'm okay," Fina said faintly, "It's just a cut."

Sydney walked over to take a look. "Oo, we should bandage that up."

Fina took one look at Joleena's drawn face and shook her head.

"I'm alright." She said bravely. She knew that Joleena endured crap like this on a daily basis so she had no right to complain about a small cut on her arm.

Fred tore the sleeve of his shirt off and used it to bandage up Fina's arm. Sydney burst the door inwards with a blast of magic. In the center of the room was pedestal with a dark glass case surrounding it. But even the darkened glass couldn't conceal what was inside of it. Joleena's charm shone brightly inside of it and threw even brighter beams of lights against the glass as if was trying to break free.

"Be careful," Joleena motioned everyone back and stepped forward. She peered closely at the case but didn't touch it. Even without touching it both the case and the charm seemed to respond to her; the case grew darker and threw dark tendrils of smoke and the charm grew even brighter and started to bounce around.

Joleena cautiously reached out one finger to touch it but then drew it back with a sharp cry of pain. Where she had touched the glass there was a blackened burn mark on her finger.

"I wish San-Li was here," Fina said sadly, "She knows how to break into anything."

"Yeah, she does." Joleena smiled sadly.

"Too bad we left her behind to get killed." Sam said bitterly.

Joleena's smile disappeared and she turned to the others with tears in her eyes. "She didn't make it?"

"We don't know that for sure." Sydney said quickly. "She could have made it."

Joleena just sighed then took a deep breath. Everyone looked on in horror as Joleena placed both hands flat on the glass case. So much black smoke poured out that it covered her hands completely and they could hear her hands sizzle. She kept them pressed against the glass anyway and concentrated. A purple light began to emanate beneath her hands and slowly covered the rest of the case. Finally, she let go with a gasp and the case vanished. Joleena stumbled back with her hands still burning and smoking. Joe steadied her by gently grabbing her shoulders.

"My gosh," Sydney whispered. "Joleena, your hands."

Joleena's hands had serious looking burn marks all across her palm.

"I'm fine." Joleena said tensely. She quickly grabbed her charm and slipped it around her neck.

"Let's just get out of here before something else happens." Fred said looking around.

Fina suddenly gasped. "Too late!"

The door slammed shut and they all started to sink through the floor.

"Great." Sydney mumbled. "Like this?"

The floor pulled them quickly through and they fell fast. They landed with a crash in a place Joleena knew all too well. The central throne room. The shadow master was sitting on her father's throne looking just as surprised as they did.


	16. Chapter 15

The shadow master glared at them and then a cold, cruel smile spread across his face.

"I see you've escaped from your prison cells." He chuckled. "And now you're here to challenge me and free your kingdom. How sweet."

"You won't think its sweet in a minute." Sydney growled.

But Joleena stayed quiet, thinking to herself. Her eyes slowly travelled around the throne room, searching for the jewel of Syra. The shadow master laughed.

"I already know what you're thinking princess," he laughed. "But I'm afraid you won't find what you're looking for anywhere around here."

Joleena snapped her head forward and stared straight at the shadow master. Now she started to smile.

"I already have." She smirked.

All at once the shadow master's smile dissolved into a mask of pure hatred and rage. Without another word, he threw out his arm and a blast of pure darkness shot out towards Joleena. At the same time Joleena threw her arm backwards towards the others and a wave of invisible energy pushed them backwards. A split second later she held her charm out in front of her. A large and nearly transparent shield that looked just like the charm went up in front of Joleena a split second before the darkness hit her.

"Uh-oh!" Sam said suddenly. "Look!" He pointed behind them.

Pouring through the doorway were about 20 to 30 guards, all armed, and all ready to kill. Sydney raised her fists, eyes glowing and Fina transformed herself into a lioness. They were hopelessly outnumbered, one of their best fighters was probably dead, and one of the most powerful princesses in all of magic was struggling against one of the most deadly masters ever. All at once the guards charged at them. Sydney leapt into the air and…

******* **We interrupt this story for an important message from the author. "Hey guys, it me, Writer25 used to be known as Crazzy8855. I just wanted to say that I'm in my first year of college now, holding down a job, making TWT AMVs, **_**and **_**updating my stories. Not trying to rag on you guys but just wanted to let you know that if **_**I **_**can do it, **_**you **_**can do it. Thanks!" ******

Sydney leapt into the air and kicked one guard in the face while blasting another one in the chest. Fina tore at two other guards and the trio looked on, feeling helpless.

"We have to do something!" Fred shouted, staring in horror as the two guards swung their swords at Fina. "We can't just stand here!"

"What can we do?" Sam yelled back "We don't have any magic powers, remember?"

Just then, a guard seemed to notice them and charged at them axe raised. The boys screamed.

"STOP!" Joe screamed holding his arms out defensively.

Sam and Fred gasped. The guard had frozen less than six inches in front of them and seemed to be suspended in a green glow. Joe stared opened mouth and wondered what to do next.

"Joe, look out!" Sydney screamed suddenly.

The trio turned and saw another evil guard come at them one the left.

"Stop!" Joe yelled again and threw his other hand out.

"Yell reverse!" Sam said.

"Reverse!"

The guards flew backwards and knocked into several more. One hit a guard that had Sydney pinned down. They ran to her.

"We need a plan," Joe said helping her up. "We can't keep doing this. You and Fina can't do this forever."

"We don't need to do this forever," Sydney panted, getting right back into the fight. "Just until Joleena beats that creepy, son-of-a-"

CRACK!

A loud noise made everyone stop, even the evil guards. They all turned to look at Joleena and the shadow master's battle. Joleena was pushing with all of her might, but it was apparent to everyone what was happening. Joleena's shield, the only thing keeping her safe from the dark magic, was cracking.

CRACK! CRACK!

Two more loud cracks and the shadow master started to smile.

"Give it up princess." He said smoothly. "We both know how this will turn out. Give in willingly and I'll spare your life…and maybe make you my little queen."

"N-Never!" Joleena said through clenched teeth.

Her feet began to slide backwards and by now everyone could see her arms shaking. Fred looked around and saw that all of the guards are slowly disintegrating.

"Um, guys," Fred asked. "What's happening to all of the guards?"

They watched as the guards slowly dissolved into black smoke and headed for the shadow master.

"Are they gaining up on him?" Sam asked.

Sydney stared for a moment and then gasped. "I think he's using their energy to make himself more powerful."

"Joleena!" Joe cried out and tried to run to her.

"Joe, no!" Sydney and Fred held him back.

"We have to help her!" Joe yelled angrily.

"There's nothing we can do," Fina walked up to him. Her hair was messy and all over the place and she had blood all over her. "Joleena is the only one strong enough to hold off that kind of magic."

**CCCCRRRRAAAAAACCCCKKKK!**

The sound was explosive. A giant crack appeared in the middle of the shield and then the dark magic shattered it completely. Joleena collapse and fell on her knees, panting heavily. The shadow master smiled cruelly and gathered the rest of the dark energy that was swirling around him still.

"Are you ready to die now princess?" he smirked.

Joleena struggled to lift her head, but she glared at the shadow master in full, defiant to the last. Struggling, she stood and faced him. She pronounced each word fully and carefully.

"Go. To. Hell."

The shadow master gave a cry of rage and fired all of the gathered energy at her. The black energy blasted through the air and tore directly into Joleena.


	17. Chapter 16

They all watched in terror as the dark energy tore through Joleena's stomach. The shadow master, with his arm held high, grinned evilly.

"AHHHH!" He screamed in pain as his arm suddenly jerked three times with three long bangs. The flow of dark energy stopped and Joleena collapsed.

"What's up sukkah?" A familiar voice called out from the doorway.

Everyone turned and Sam smiled like crazy.

"San-Li!"

San-Li was leaning in the doorway smirking and holding a gun. Her hair was disheveled and her clothes were covered in blood, but it definitely looked like she won.

"You!" The shadow master held his wounded arm.

"Miss me, baby?" San-Li laughed and limped into the room. "Your friends and I had one heck of a time together."

She stood protectively in front of Joleena and smirked even harder at the shadow master.

"Wanna see how?"

Sydney and Fina stood on either side of her and got ready to fight. Joe hurried over to where Joleena was and knelt next to her, expecting the worse. To his surprise, there was no blood where the dark magic hit her, just pitch blackness that began to spread. Without thinking, Joe tried to stop it with his hands but was immediately burned by the black smoke. He grabbed her by the shoulders and cradled her in his lap. Her eyes remained closed and it didn't look like she was breathing. He could hear shots and yelling but they seemed to come off from a distance.

"Joleena wake up," Joe whispered to her. "You have to wake up. Wake up. Wake up."

"_Joleena," A soft voice called. "Joleena dear, time to wake up."_

_Joleena groaned and opened her eyes. There was bright light everywhere. _

"_Joleena, sweetie." The voice said again. "It's time for you to wake up."_

"_Mom?" Joleena whispered. She sat up slowly, and felt a great pain in her stomach. She looked down at it but couldn't see any injuries. _

"_Sweetie," Out of nowhere a woman stood in front of Joleena. She recognized her immediately and tears filled her eyes._

"_Mommy!" Joleena cried and ran into her mother's arms. _

_She tried to look up into her face but it was too bright for her to see. _

"_It's time for you to win back our kingdom." Her mom said while firmly wrapping her arms around her._

"_I know but," Joleena reluctantly broke away from the embrace. "How can I do that? The shadow master probably doesn't even realize that the jewel was in your throne."_

"_Ah, but that's just it." Her mother smiled. "The jewel of Syra wasn't in my throne."_

"_It wasn't?"_

"_No," Joleena's mother pulled her into her arms again. "When I knew that my time was up I removed the jewel and put it somewhere special. The one place where I know it'll be used for good."_

_Joleena smiled, suddenly realizing what her mother meant. Tears then came to her eyes when she realized this was goodbye. _

"_I'll miss you mother." She whispered._

"_I'll miss you too," her mother whispered back. "And keep your eye on that Warp Wizard boy."_

Joleena's eyes snapped open and the sound of battle raged around her. Joe's relieved face was the first thing she saw, followed by Fred and Sam standing right behind him looking deathly worried.

"You're okay!" Joe cried out happily and hugged her.

She didn't have time for this though. She gently but firmly pushed Joe away and stood up shakily. She took a deep breath and the dark shadow on her stomach slowly started to recede. Joleena took her charm out and looked carefully over the floor. The floor was mostly white with colorful red, gold, and purple tiles creating interesting shapes and designs. If you were to look closely however, you would be able see that the colored tiles were making a very precise pattern. Joleena found what she was looking for and smiled.

When she looked over where the battle was though she frowned. The shadow master was as powerful as ever, even with his arm shot up. With one hand he was fending off Sydney's energy blasts, San-Li's gunshots, and Fina, now a large gorilla, throwing debris. There was no possible way for Joleena to get through and use the jewel to finish this. Unless...

"Joe!" She turned to him. "I need you to stop time in this room."

"W-what?" Joe stammered. "I-I- can't! I've only done separate objects before!"

"Wait!" Sam said. "What about when we warped to the Old West? You used The Book."

"Yeah," Fred said. "You stopped an entire battle then."

"Do you still have it with you?"

"No the, um, shadow master took it before he threw us in jail."

There was a loud crash as a large white rhinoceros crashed into the tiles near them. Fina lay there dazed for a minute before changing into a cheetah was running back towards the fight.

"We have to do something!" Fred yelled out in frustration.

"Wait," Joe said quietly. "I think I remember the words to the spell."

"But it won't work without The Book!" Sam yelled.

Joleena ignored him though and took Joe's hands in hers. She looked him in the eye with a steady, unwavering gaze. "You aren't going to be the warp wizard for no reason. You can do this."

Joe took a deep, shuddering breath and gripped Joleena's hands tightly.

"Time is an arrow, time is curved, show me the still point of the turning world."

At first it seemed like nothing happened. Then Joe opened his eyes. Everything had stopped. Fine was leaping at the shadow master with her teeth bared and her claws spread wide. Three blades were frozen halfway between San-Li's hands and Sydney's hands were glowing so brightly it hurt to look at them.

"Joe!" Joleena gasped suddenly. "Your eyes!"

Joleena stared in wonder as Joe's eyes glowed a soft green.

"I think you need to hurry." Joe said nervously.

"Right, right." Joleena shook her head to clear it.

She turned and froze. The shadow master's eyes were watching her. He saw the charm she held in her hand and started to move. Suddenly, a green glow appeared around him and she slowed down but didn't stop. Joleena turned and saw that Joe had his arms held out toward the shadow master. His hands were glowing green and he was clearly struggling.

"Hurry." He said in a strained voice.

Joleena nodded and rushed to the center of the room where the colored tiles converged into a large circle. In the exact center of the circle was an engraving of the charm she held in her hand. The very same charm that focused her power was also the jewel of Syra , passed down to every woman in her family since the beginning of time.

The shadow master was closer to the symbol but Joleena was faster. She tossed her charm onto the center and brought down her staff on to the exact center when the shadow master's hand was just inches away.

"Noooooo!" The shadow master yelled in rage, suddenly unfrozen.

A giant pillar of light shot out from the floor and spread. It engulfed the entire throne room and spread throughout the castle. The shadow master seemed to render before their very eyes.

"This isn't over!" were his final words before everything vanished in the light.

* * *

Again Joleena woke up to see Joe's face hovering over hers. He smiled broadly.

"You're awake." he said.

Joleena sat up and looked around. They were all right outside the castle now, surrounded by lush, green grass with the sound of a stream bubbling nearby. The air seemed lighter and all the damage was gone. Even their injuries had healed. But there were also people standing all around them.

"Isn't that the princess?" "Is it her?" "Are we free?" They all whispered.

"Um, any idea who these guys are?" Fred said looking nervous.

An old man stepped forward and bowed lowly to Joleena.

"Oh, great princess," he said in a shaky voice. "For three years it was like we were trapped in a nightmare and had no way of escaping."

"Yes," another woman stepped forward and bowed down. "We thought we were all dead!"

Suddenly the ground shook and three figures appeared out of nowhere. They were so bright that it was hard to see their faces clearly.

"Princess Joleena," one of them said. "Your judgment has come."

**A/N- Only two more chapters left! Review please!**


	18. Chapter 17

Joleena had never been so nervous in all her life. Joe had offered to go in with her but she knew that she had to do this alone. Had to face the council alone. And probably rule Syrania alone. The very thought made her feel hollow inside. She wondered not for the first time was all of this really worth fighting for. Syrania was free now and if she couldn't rule surely they could find someone to rule it.

So now she stood alone in the throne room, standing before three of the most powerful figures in all of magic. Aria, the goddess of the sky and air, and one of the elemental gods that granted her family power. Her hair was a light blue and was constantly moving with an unseen breeze. She wore a flowing and nearly transparent white dress. She smiled at Joleena softy.

Ryzin, one of great magicians of existence and was rumored to have given Merlin his powers. He wore a plain gray and black robe and creases were permanently imbedded into his face. He was frowning at Joleena.

And finally Demaske, the king of wisdom. He was dressed as a hermit except for the gold pendent that he wore with a ruby in the center. He was actually blind so it was hard to tell if he was frowning at her or just plain frowning.

Ryzin was the first to speak.

"Joleena of Syrania," He said in a booming voice. "The hour of your judgment has come. It is time for us to see if you are worthy of this throne."

* * *

Sydney was seething. "We should be able to at least put in a good word for her! I'm a goddess too!"

"But you've been helping her." Fina pointed out gently. "So technically your judgment is compromised."

They were sitting in the outside waiting room, waiting for any news about Joleena's judgment. Joe looked absolutely miserable and Fina kept biting her lower lip in anxiety. Sydney kept pacing back and forth and San-Li was leaning against wall with her eyes closed.

"Ugh! What is taking so long?" Sydney cried out suddenly.

San-Li opened one eye. "Chill. My head hurts and I'm not gonna hear your mouth all day."

"Excuse me?" Sydney said sharply.

"Stop it, both of you." Joe said it so firmly that girls girls looked him in surprise.

Joe went back to studying his hands, wondering how to control the power that was inside him. Fina noticed him and smiled. She took his hands and and led him away form the others. They went outside together and they sat on the grass.

"Do you wanna know about your destiny?"

* * *

"Yes, I understand." Joleena said for the fifth time.

"And you understand," Aria said with some sympathy. "That as a princess you won't be able to live a life of luxury and contentment."

"Yes, I understand." Joleena repeated soberly.

Joleena had been standing in front of them for half an hour now and they still hadn't made their decision on whether or not she could keep her kingdom. Instead they had given her a long list of what she would and wouldn't be able to do if she could keep it. So far it was peace treaties, diplomacy, running Syrania, and keeping the kingdom out of danger. It was mostly Ryzin giving her the list of duties she would have to take on. He seemed like he expected her to fail, but Aria seemed like she wanted her to succeed. The only one Joleena was unsure of was Demaske. He had stayed silent the entire time, nodding to himself every once in a while.

Joleena took a deep breath and wondered how long this judgment would take. Suddenly, Demaske stood and the other two fell silent with their eyes on him. The decision had come at last.

* * *

"I can't tell you much," Fina smiled. "But I can tell you a little."

"How do I become the warp wizard?" Joe blurted out. "How do I get control of my powers?"

Fina laughed. "Don't worry, it'll all come to you in time."

Joe sighed and looked down at his hands. "I just wish..."

"What is it?" Fina looked at him. "Tell me."

"I just wish that I wasn't so useless!" Joe shouted in frustration. "You and Sydney and San-Li and Joleena have been risking your lives all day and all I can do is stand there!"

Fina waited while Joe caught his breath before saying something that surprised him.

"That's a stupid way to feel." she said.

When Joe looked at her sharply she explained. "I saw you use your powers earlier."

"That was just a fluke." Joe mumbled.

"No it wasn't." Fina shook her head firmly. "You had purpose, you had _control_."

Joe sat there thinking for a minute. It was true, he had used his powers before. When they had warped to China, he had used his power to stop an arrow from killing Anna. He had focused his mind and it just...happened. And just now, when Joleena had needed him the most, he was able to stop and control time over a percise area. Joe made up his mind. The power that he had wasn't just something that he could afford to mess around with like he had The Book. He needed to learn how to use it and soon. He turned to Fina with a determined look on his face.

"Teach me how to control my power." he said.

"All in due time Joe." Fina smiled. "All in due time."

Just then Fred came bursting outside.

"Come on!" He shouted at them. "They're about to announce their decision!"

* * *

Joleena wondered why they wanted everyone in the room when they gave their judgment. It would just be so much easier to just tell her if she had succeeded or failed without an audience near by.

"I have made my decision," Demaske said in a slow, booming voice. "Joleena of Syrania, you are nothing but a child. You have no real experience about ruling a kingdom, you are reckless with your powers, you put these innocent boys in danger, and your choice of allies are poor at best."

The last remark was aimed directly at San-Li and the one about putting innocent boys in danger was aimed at the trio. Joleena felt that they were about to protest so she made a sign behind her back for them to stay silent. Whatever the judgment came to she would take it as a queen.

"However," his tone softened. "You will clearly do anything to protect and uphold your kingdom in goodness and truth. And the devotion of your friends show that you are in fact a most worthy leader. My decision is..."

The whole room held its breath. It felt like even time had stopped.

"My decision is...that you may have your kingdom."

Joleena almost didn't comprehend what he had just said. Then, a wild cheer seemed to break out around her. A wide grin split her face and tears ran down as Sydney and Fina crushed her into a hug. Fred, Joe and Sam were cheering while San-Li nodded knowingly, as if she expected this would happen.

Aria glided down to them and stood in front of Joleena.

"Congratulations my dear." She said fondly. "Your mother would have been so proud of you."

"Thank you, Aria." Joleena bowed low to her.

"And Joseph," Aria turned to him.

"Y-y-yes?"

"I believe you know what to do with this." She smiled and pulled The Book out of her inner sleeve and handed it to Joe.

Joe looked and Fina and smiled. "I believe I know exactly what to do."

Without needing any help, and as effortlessly as anything, Joe turned to the right page and warped them home. This time, instead of being crazy and random, the green smoke neatly warped them home.

**A/N- There's still only one more chapter left! Review!**


	19. Final Chapter

"What?" Joe stared at Joleena.

She couldn't be serious. Not after everything they had just been through. It had only been three days since they had come back from Syrania and Joleena had seemed completely happy. But as Joe searched her face he could only see weariness.

Joleena stood up off of Joe's couch and sighed. "I just need some time to think. I need to find out if this is all really worth it."

"But that doesn't mean you have to leave." Joe said walking her to the door.

They stepped out onto the porch and Joleena turned to Joe with a sad smile. She reached out and touched his cheek with her finger tips.

"Yeah, I kinda do." She said quietly.

Joe closed his eyes and sighed. "How long will you be gone?"

"Don't know," Joleena said. "A while. Its gonna be a long trip."

They stayed silent for a minute and then she let her hand drop and gave him a jaunty wink. "See you later, Mr. Warp Wizard."

And with that she disappeared in a flash of purple light. Joe stared at the spot for a minute before rushing inside and straight to the phone. He dialed so hard that his finger hurt and he waited anxiously for the person to answer.

"Hello?"

"Why didn't you tell me she was leaving!" Joe yelled into the phone.

"Joe, chill!" San-Li said in a weary tone. "She's been through a lot. She should get away for a while."

"Why didn't you convince her to stay?" The anger had drained out of Joe's voice and was replaced by sadness. "You're her best friend."

"And as her best friend, I know when she needs a break." San-Li said. "Look, just give her some time. Joleena will be back."

"How do you know?" Joe felt deflated. "How do you know she'll come back?"

"Because Joleena isn't just a princess by title," San-Li laughed softly. "Being a princess is in her blood."

Joe smiled. San-Li was right, he had always sensed that Joleena was a great leader.

"And Joe," San-Li said.

"Yeah?"

"Never. Call. Me. Again."

Joe was about to come up with a sarcastic comment...but she had already hung up. He couldn't help but smile though. He was going to miss Joleena, _really_ going to miss her, but he knew more matter what, he would still have his best friends Sam and Fred to keep him company as well as two new friends; the sweet, quiet Fina and the dark, slightly psychotic San-Li.

Joe's smile faltered a little. These were going to be some interesting days ahead,


End file.
